Machines for manufacturing liquid and moisture absorbing compresses



July 28, 1970 Filed Feb. 14. 1967 G. S. LUNDQVIST MACHINES FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND MOISTURE ABSORBING COMPRESSES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 F/GJA 5 k :9 l l H l lk F July 28, 1970 s, LUNDQVIST 3,522,130

MACHINES FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND MOISTURE ABSORBING COMPRESSES Filed Feb. 14, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG/B 1970 e. s. LUNDQVIST 3,522,130

MACHINES FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND MOISTURE ABSORBING GOMPRESSES Filed Feb. 14, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 7C

y 23, 1970 G. s. LUNDQVIST 3,52

MACHINES FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND MOISTURE ABSORBING GOMPRESSES Filed Feb. 14, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 2

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MACHINES FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND MOISTURE ABSORBING COMPRESSES Filed Feb. 14, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,522,130 MACHINES FOR MANUFACTURING LIQUID AND MOISTURE ABSORBIN'G COMPRESSES Gote Sixten Lundqvist, I-Iuleviks Bruk, Hulevik, Lonashult, Sweden Filed Feb. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 615,965 Claims priority, application Sweden, Feb. 14, 1966, 1,842/66 Int. Cl. B32b U.S. Cl. 156-383 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine is provided for the manufacture of liquid and moisture absorbing compresses having a pervious wrapper enclosing cellulose wadding. This machine comprises means for rotatably mounting a roll of cellulose waclding strip, means for folding the strip of cellulose wadding into channel section, means for producing cellulose fibres and conveying them to means for producing a strand from said fibres and transferring the fibre strand to the strip of cellulose wadding, means for rotatably mounting a roll of band forming the wrapping, means for compacting the fibre strand against the strip of cellulose wadding and the band, means for folding the band and the strip about the fibre strand so that the lateral edges of the band and the strip will overlap, means for closing the resulting overlap, means for cutting the compress assembly formed into suitable lengths and closing the transverse cuts resulting from the cutting operation, and means for delivering the finished compresses to a collecting station. 1

A machine for manufacturing liquid and moisture absorbing compresses, and more particularly a machine for manufacturing diapers with an air and moisture pervious wrapping enclosing an insert of cellulose wadding and cellulose fibres.

One of the major problems of the previously known machines for manufacturing liquid and moisture absorb ing compresses is their low capacity. Many attempts have been made to increase the capacity of such machines but as a rule these attempts resulted in a non-acceptable final product. The previously known machines have a capacity of 50 to 80 compresses per minute. Naturally, these figures largely depend also on the sizes of the compresses and relate to compresses to be used in baby pants.

The improved machine for manufacturing liquid and moisture absorbing compresses, suggested according to the present invention, provides a considerable increase of the manufacturing capacity of the machine without in any way deteriorating the resulting final product.

This object is attained by the machine according to the invention comprising means for rotatably mounting a roll of cellulose wadding strip, means for folding the strip of cellulose wadding into channel section, means for producing cellulose fibres and conveying them to means for producing a strand from said fibres and transferring the fibre strand to the strip of cellulose wadding, means for rotatably mounting a roll of band forming the Wrapping, means for compacting the fibre strand against the strip of cellulose wadding and the band, means for folding the band and the strip about the fibre strand so that the lateral edges of the band and the strip will overlap, means for closing the resulting overlap, means for cutting the compress assembly formed into suitable lengths and closing the transverse cuts resulting from the cutting operation, and means for delivering the finished compresses to a collecting station.

3,522,136 Patented July 28, 1970 These and further features of the machine will appear more fully from the following specification in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1A-1C are diagrammatic and partial sections of one embodiment of the machine;

FIG. 2 is a section on line IIII in FIG. 1C;

FIG. 3 is a section on line III-III in FIG. 1C;

FIG. 4 is a section on line IVIV in FIG. 1C;

FIG. 5 is a partial section, on a larger scale, of the nozzle of the feed tube;

FIG. 5A is a modification of the FIG. 5 embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a partial section of a feed drum;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view of a belt and chain drive for the machine.

FIG. 1A shows that part of the machine which produces the fibre strand for the insert of the liquid and moisture absorbing compress, the fibre strand consisting of dry-defibrated cellulose. A band 2 of cellulose is supplied to a hammer mill 1 (only part of the band is shown). On the shaft of the mill is mounted a fan 3 which generates an air stream carrying the defibrated cellulose in a pipeline 4 to a feed drum 5. From said drum 5 a recirculation or excess fibre pipeline 6 leads to a container 7. The mass of fibres supplied to the drum is sucked against the circumference of the drum by means of a pipeline 9 connected to the shaft 8 of the drum, the circumference of the drum being formed by a perforated metal sheet 10. The pipeline 9 is connected via a fan 11 to the container 7 whereby a vacuum is produced in the drum 5.

The container 7 has the lower end connected to the mill 1. Recirculated fibre mass and such fibres as have been sucked into the drum 5 through the perforated metal sheet 10 and have been supplied to the container 7 via the pipeline 9, will thus be fed into the mill 1 and from said mill back to the drum 5. A pipeline 12 which communicates via a fan 13 with an open storage container 14, penetrates through the upper end of the container 7. The pipeline 12 extends some distance into the container 7 and will carry very small fibre particles to the storage container 14 in which these small particles are collected, which as a rule are considered as waste and are mostly burnt. The container 7 also serves the purpose of equallizing the amount of air which in the fibre feed apparatus serves to carry the fibre mass.

At different points of the conveying installation, clear portions are provided to permit supervision of fi-bre conveyance. Thus, a window 7a is arranged in the container 7; part of the nozzle portion 15 and also part of the pipeline 9 may be of clear material. A study of the fibre mass through the window 7a will reveal that the large and heavy fibres fall down in the container along the walls thereof, while the small light-Weight fibres move upwards in the centre of the container and into the pipeline 12. This will considerably reduce the undesirable so-called dust volume in the fibre strand produced by the drum 5.

FIG. 5 more closely shows the nozzle end 15 of the pipeline 4 in the vicinity of the drum 5, as Well as the end of the pipeline 6 at this point. The nozzle 15 shall be oblique to the perforated metal sheet 10, and the end of the pipeline 6 shall be located opposite the nozzle end. Disposed in the pipeline 6 at said end is a baffie 16 which serves to direct the stream of air from the drum into the pipeline 6 in an upward direction, thereby reducing the risks of said pipeline being clogged. For a further reduction of the risk of clogging said pipeline can be designed in the manner shown in FIG. 5A.

At the rotation of the drum 5 the fibre mass supplied to it will be carried away from the nozzle 15 to a pinch belt 17 of the same width as the perforated metal sheet 10 and movable on rollers 18. The lowermost roller 18 is mounted in a tensioning means 19 of a per se known construction, serving to tension or slacken the belt 17. At the slackening of the belt 17 a larger amount of fibre mass will remain lying on the drum after the passage of the belt 17, and vice versa. Mounted within the drum 5 on the shaft 8 thereof is a venting segment 20. Said segment extends between the end walls 21 and 22 of the drum, the perforated metal sheet 10 being clamped between said end walls by means of several bolts (not shown) which are situated on the inner side of the metal sheet and distributed around the circumference thereof. At the periphery the venting segment is in the shape of a box which, by Way of flexible sealing means, bears against the perforated metal sheet 10 and against the end walls 21 and 22. In the shaft 8 of the drum 5 are provided two separated hollow spaces 23 and 24, one being in communication with the pipeline 9 and the other with the surrounding atmosphere or a fan (not shown) which supplies air to the venting segment 12 via the hollow space 24, the bearing sleeve 25 and a hose between said sleeve and said box. The bearing sleeve 25 has mounted thereon one end wall 22 by means of a bearing 26. Fixedly mounted on the end Wall 22 is a sprocket wheel 27 which serves to rotate the drum. This construction of the drum will appear best from FIG. 6. The shaft 8 is threaded at one end, and one end wall 21 is screwed onto the shaft 8 and secured in position thereon by means of a lock nut 28. The purpose of this mounting of the end wall 21 will appear from the following description. The entire drum assembly can be enclosed in a housing which is in communication with a fan for sucking away small fibre particles from around the assembly.

When the fibre mass on the drum arrives at the venting segment 20 the mass falls onto a strip 29 of cellulose wadding. At this point a doctor plate 30 is provided, which flexibly engages the perforated metal sheet 10'.

The strip of cellulose wadding is arranged in the shape of a roll at one end of a table 31 which is supported by a frame 32 of beams extending throughout the machine. The roll of cellulose wadding strip is mounted for rotation and the strip 29 extracted from the roll rests on the table 31, the lateral margins of the strip being bent in an upward direction by means of a plate .33 disposed on either side of said strip. After the plate 33, as seen in the direction of travel, the strip 29 is of channel section, and when the strip 29 travels past the drum 5 the fibre mass loosening therefrom is collected and forms a fibre strand on the strip 29. Said fibre strand will be levelled to a certain extent by the doctor plate 30.

Mounted for rotation beneath the table 31 is a roll 34- of a strip or band material which is to serve as a wrapping for the compress. The band is an air and moisture pervious heat weldable non-woven fabric. It is substantially of the same Width as the strip 29 of cellulose wadding, and the table 31 has an opening through which the band 34 runs. the band is movable on the table together with the strip 29 and the fibre strand positioned thereon. At the right-hand end of the table 31, a pressure roll 35, which compacts the fibre strand against the strip 29 of cellulose wadding and presses the entire compress assembly against the lower end of a conveyor belt 36, is rotatably mounted at one end of a pivotally mounted lever arm 35a.

The conveyor belt 36 extends between two drive rolls 37 and 38, and the upper run of the belt is laterally delimited by edge elements which serve to guide the compress assembly moving with the conveyor belt 36. Adjacent the upper end of the conveyor belt 36 are disposed folding members 49 which are movably mounted on the edge elements. The shape of these folding members 49 will appear from FIG. 2. They serve to form an overlap between the lateral edges of the strip 29 of cellulose wadding and the roll of webbing 34. Said overlap extends longitudinally of the compress assembly and can be closed by means of a roller .39 which is situated at the end of the conveyor belt and is rotatably mounted at one end of a lever arm 40, the other end of which is pivotally connected to some suitable part of the machine frame. The roll 39 is adapted to heat weld the longitudinal overlap of the compress assembly and is shaped to emboss the overlap to improve cohesion thereof. This will be seen most clearly in FIG. 3.

After closing of said longitudinal overlap the compress assembly is advanced through the machine by means of guide and drive roll pairs 41 and 42, one roll in one of said pairs being mounted at one end of a swingalble lever arm 43, and brought to roll means 44 dividing and cutting the compress assembly into suitable lengths. Said roll means is also adapted to heat weld and emboss the compress assembly on either side of each transverse cut made. The finished compresses are thus obtained from said roll means 44 and are fed from said means by a conveyor belt assembly.

Said conveyor belt assembly comprises a conveyor belt 45 acting at the underside of the compress and running about drive rolls 46, and two conveyor belts 47 acting on the upper side of the compress. Said latter conveyor belts 47 run about rolls 48 and press the compress against the conveyor belt 45, guiding it laterally. The described construction of the conveyor belt assembly is shown in detail in FIG. 4. Said assembly delivers the finished compresses to a collecting device (not shown) which of course may be an automatic packaging machine.

The drum 5, the conveyor belt 36, the pair of rolls 41, the roll means 44, and the conveyor belts 45, 47 are driven in synchronism by means of either belts or chains. Belt operation can be applied for such elements as may be allowed to have a certain slip, and chain operation for such elements as cannot be allowed to have any slip whatever.

FIG. 7 diagrammatically shows the drive employed in the machine described in the foregoing. The wheels which directly drive the means mentioned in the foregoing have been given the same reference numerals as the means driven by said wheels. Disposed at one end of the machine is an electric motor 50 having an infinitely variable speed, and the motor has a pulley which is connected by means of a belt to a further pulley disposed at one end of a shaft 51. Said shaft 51 has a further pulley 52 mounted thereon, said further pulley 52 being connected by means of a belt with a first pulley 54 of an infinitely variable transmission 53. Said transmission includes a further pulley 55 which is connected by means of a belt to a pulley 57 arranged on a shaft 56. A pulley 58 and a sprocket wheel 59 are arranged at the other end of shaft 51. The pulley 58 is connected by means of a belt to the pulley 48 while the sprocket wheel 59 is connected by means of a chain to a sprocket wheel 44.

Arranged at the end of the shaft 56 is a sprocket wheel 60 which is connected by means of a chain with a sprocket wheel 41. On the same shaft as the sprocket wheel 41 is mounted a further sprocket wheel 61 which is connected with a sprocket wheel 38 by means of a chain. Arranged on the same shaft as the last mentioned sprocket wheel is a sprocket wheel 39 which is connected by means of a chain to a wheel 62 arranged on the same shaft as the roll 37. Disposed on the same shaft further is a sprocket wheel 63 which is connected by means of a chain to a gearing sprocket wheel 64 placed on the same shaft as a gear 65 which is in mesh with the gear 66. This latter gear is disposed on the same shaft as the driving sprocket wheel 67 of the drum 5, which sprocket wheel is connected by means of a chain with the sprocket wheel 27. The gearing 65, 66 provides the correct direction of rotation of the drum 5.

The machine according to the present invention permits manufacturing compress of any desired length and of any desired width. The weight largely depends on the amount of fibre mass in the compress, and this amount can be varied continuously during operation of the machine by changing the pressure effected by the pinch belt 17 against the drum 5. Such change is brought about, as already mentioned, with the aid of the tensioning means 19. The length of the compresses can also be varied continuously during operation of the machine with the aid of the infinitely variable transmission 53. During continuous test manufacture, compresses having weights between 18 and 35 g. and lengths of from 15 to 43 cm. have been manufactured, and adjustment could be realized during continuous operation. In such test manufacture the machine had a capacity of between 350 and 200 compresses per per minute. It is also possible to vary the width of the compresses. Such variation in principle is brought about simply by dismounting the end wall 21 of the drum and the venting segment 20 together with the perforated metal sheet 10. The metal sheet and the venting seg ment are then replaced by similar wider or narrower parts.

While a preferred embodiment of the machine has been described above and shown in the drawings, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine for manufacturing liquid and moisture absorbing compresses with an air and moisture pervious Wrapping enclosing an insert of cellulose wadding and cellulose fibres, comprising means for rotatably mounting a roll of cellulose wadding strip, means for folding the strip of cellulose wadding into channel section, means for producing cellulose fibres and conveying them to means for producing a strand from said fibres and transferring the fibre strand to the strip of cellulose wadding, said means for producing the cellulose fibres and conveying said fibres including a cellulose dry defibrator and means for providing a stream of air for conveying the fibres in said stream of air to the means for producing a strand from the fibres and transferring the fibre strand to the strip of cellulose wadding, means for rotatably mounting a roll of band forming the wrapping, means for compacting the fibre strand against the strip of cellulose wadding and the band, means for folding the band and the strip about the fibre strand so that the lateral edges of the band and the strip will overlap, means for closing the resulting overlap, means for cutting the compress assembly formed into suitable lengths and closing the transverse cuts resulting from the cutting operation, and means for delivering the finished compresses to a collecting station.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for conveying the cellulose fibres comprise a container to which lead pipelines for recirculating excess fibres to the defibrator and to an open excess fibre container.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the means for producing the fibre strand and for transferring said strand to the strip of cellulose wadding comprise a cylindrical drum which has a perforated shell surface and is mounted on a shaft'having two separate hollow spaces, one of said hollow spaces being connected to a fan for withdrawal of air from the drum through the perforated shell surface, while the other hollow space is connected to a fan for blowing air into a venting segment arranged in the drum and situated at a point for transferring the fibre strand to the strip of cellulose wadding.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3, in which the drum has a perforated shell clamped between two end walls extending past said shell, and in which a belt is adapted to press the fibre mass supplied to the drum against said perforated shell.

5. A machine for manufacturing liquid and moisture absorbing compresses with an air and moisture pervious wrapping enclosing an insert of cellulose wadding and cellulose fibres, comprising means for rotatably mounting a roll of cellulose wadding strip, means for folding the strip of cellulose wadding into channel section, means for producing cellulose fibres and conveying them to means for producing a strand from said fibres and transferring the fibre strand to the strip of cellulose wadding, means for rotatably mounting a roll of band forming the wrapping, means for compacting the fibre strand against the strip of cellulose wadding and the band, means for folding the band and the strip about the fibre strand so that the lateral edges of the band and the strip will overlap, means for closing the resulting overlap, means for cutting the compress assembly formed into suitable lengths and closing the transverse cuts resulting from the cutting operation, and means for delivering the finished compresses to a collecting station, means for delivering the finished compresses comprising two conveyor belts, one of which supports the finished compresses while the other is divided into two parts positioned each on one side of the compress on said one conveyor belt and guiding said compress on, and keeping it against, said one conveyor belt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,073,329 3/1937 Winter 19--144.5 3,201,295 8/1965 De Woskin 156383 FOREIGN PATENTS 329,538 5/1930 Great Britain. 884,194 12/1961 Great Britain.

SAMUEL FEINBERG, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 19--144.5 

